Jacobowsky und der Oberst (opera)

Jacobowsky und der Oberst
Opera by Giselher Klebe
The composer in 2008
TranslationJacobovsky and the Colonel
LibrettistKlebe
LanguageGerman
Based onJacobowsky und der Oberst
by Franz Werfel
Premiere
2 November 1965 (1965-11-02)
Hamburg State Opera

Jacobowsky und der Oberst, Op. 49, (Jacobovsky and the Colonel) is an opera in four acts by Giselher Klebe who also wrote the libretto based on the 1944 play Jacobowsky und der Oberst [de] by Franz Werfel.

It premiered on 2 November 1965 at the Hamburg State Opera which had commissioned the work. Klebe dedicated it to the then director of the Staatsoper, Rolf Liebermann.

Roles

Playbill of the premiere
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 2 November 1965
Conductor: Leopold Ludwig
Jacobowsky baritone Oskar Czerwenka
Colonel Stjerbinsky tenor Gerhard Stolze
Marianne soprano Arlene Saunders
Szabuniewicz baritone Erwin Wohlfahrt
The tragic gentleman baritone Toni Blankenheim
Madame Bouffier mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos
Salomon bass Ernst Umlandt
The old lady from Arras contralto Maria von Ilosvay
The flirting woman soprano Elfriede Zimmer
Chauffeur bass Carl Schultz
Clairon, café-owner
in Saint-Jean-de-Luz		 bass Peter Roth-Ehrang
Brigadier at Saint Cyrill bass Hans-Otto Kloose
First Lieutenant in
the German army		 tenor Wilfried Plate
The dice player bass Hans Sotin
The Wandering Jew tenor Kurt Marschner
St. Francis baritone Herbert Fliether
Chef D'ilot spoken Georg Mund
Police chief of
Saint-Jean-de-Luz		 spoken Theo Herrmann
A Gestapo official spoken Peter Markwort
A Warrant Officer spoken Heinz Vossbrink
Hotel and café guests 2 sopranos,
contralto, tenor
Orchestra Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Director Günther Rennert
Scene design Ita Maximowna

Time and place: 1940, Paris, St. Cyrill, Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz

The first American performance was on 27 June 1967 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, using the same cast, conducted by Matthias Kuntzsch.[1]

References

  1. ^ Griffel, Margaret Ross (2018). "Jacobowsky und der Oberst". Operas in German: A Dictionary. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-44-224797-0.

Further reading